Street Jazz

Trump’s social agenda would only succeed if he had a Democratic Congress

While this is an assertion which may well raise the hackles of those whose idea of getting the news is a combination of Facebook memes and Internet Outrage inspiring conspiracy websites, it is, nonetheless, true.

From childcare to healthcare to rebuilding America’s fragile infrastructure (notice how I didn’t use the cliched “crumbling infrastructure”?) Donald Trump has taken positions that Congressional Republicans have loudly and proudly taken stances against.

Oh, he still inspires fantasies among those not tethered too tightly to reality with his claims about how we can make Mexico pay for “the wall,” and he makes all the right noises about guns and law and order, but some of his social policies - no matter how much he gussies them up talk of tax breaks and releasing us all from the burdens of regulation, his social goals - assuming they are not an elaborate political con game - are what liberals have been pushing for decades.

Oh, maybe the Great Negotiator can work his magic on a Congress which has more than a few Tea Party members, but I tend to doubt it.

Even with a Democratic Congress, his fantasies of tax incentives to achieve his goals might hit a serious stumbling block.

One day his followers might actually wake up and say to themselves, “Hey, haven’t we been electing folks to Congress all this time who have opposed all this stuff? And aren’t our local GOP candidates - especially incumbents - folks who have stood firmly in the path of such progress?”

Well, in a perfect world they might come to that conclusion . . .

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Today’s Soundtrack

I was led to the Blogger’s Promised Land today with the help of the Soundtrack to “The Prince of Egypt.”

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Now on YouTube - Pluto: A Planet Betrayed?

Well, it probably wasn’t. But at any rate, here is my interview with Dr. Claud Lacy of the University of Arkansas, a man who graciously sat through a few of my less than coherent questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XFrNNkAf6U

"On the Air with Richard S. Drake" celebrates 25 years on the air in 2016.

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Quote of the Day

An author should be more than content if he finds he has made a difference to a handful of people, or given innocent pleasure to a small company. - A.C. Benson